Clinical nutrition in surgery - ESPEN guideline with consensual voting of the working group of Society of Clinical Nutrition and Intensive Metabolic Care (SKVIMP)

Malnutrition is an important negative factor impacting on postoperative morbidity and mortality in surgical patients. In addition, starvation raises risk of complications in the perioperative period after major surgery. Minimisation of the duration of starvation and protein-caloric deficiency requires careful and permanent monitoring of nutritional care with early response in the perioperative period. It includes modification of diet, sipping and eventually administration of enteral or parenteral nutrition. An up-to-date perioperative care model is the concept of ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery), where nutritional elements play a fundamental role in the minimisation of operative stress. The committee of Society of Clinical Nutrition and Intensive Metabolic Care (SKVIMP) decided to form the guidelines for particular groups of patients at the XXXIII Congress in Hradec Kralove in March 2017. The working group forming the guidelines for surgical patients used the recent ESPEN document Clinical nutrition in Surgery (2017). The text of all particular 37 guidelines was accepted by and large. The comments on some recommendations were formulated at a working meeting and by electronic communication. The electronic voting by all members of the working group finalised the work and delivered consensus on particular recommendations. The guideline is recommended for clinical practice in surgical patients.